94 THE HORSE IN AMERICA 



As I have said before, Ethan Allen, with no other 

 than Morgan blood that we can account for, was 

 the fastest stallion of his time, and the most popu- 

 lar performer on the trotting tracks, even eclips- 

 ing the famous Flora Temple in his ability to ex- 

 cite the enthusiasm of sportsmen by the even- 

 ness of his work, the smoothness of his gait, his 

 endurance and courage, and that intelligent docil- 

 ity which made him seem to know in every emerg- 

 ency exactly what he was called on to do. In his 

 great race in 1867, at the Fashion Course on Long 

 Island, when, with a running mate, he met the 

 fleet Dexter, who had taken from Flora Temple 

 her long-maintained fastest record, we are told 

 that forty thousand people had assembled to wit- 

 ness the contest, and the betting was 2 to 1 in fa- 

 vor of Dexter. In Wallace's "Monthly" of ten 

 years later, there was a description of the race 

 that I venture to reproduce : 



" When the horses appeared upon the track to 

 warm up for the race, Dexter, driven by the ac- 

 complished reinsman, Budd Doble, was greeted 

 with a shout of applause. Soon the team ap- 

 peared, and behind sat the great master of trot- 



